US Patent 8058192 Floral sleeve of non-woven fabric

A floral sleeve is made from two layers of non-woven thermoplastic fabric such as polypropylene. The layers are joined at the side seams of the sleeve by first pre-sealing the edges and thereafter trimming them. Pre-sealing compresses the fabric to make it denser along a band and applying heat causes the band to retain the compressed and at least partially fused set. Trimming may be done using a hot knife that completes the fusing process of the layers to each other. Alternately, the pre-sealing step may form a satisfactory fusion between the layers and the trimming step need not effect further fusion.